Rock Against Racism was one of the most dynamic and innovative British social movements of the 1970s, bringing together music fans and left-wing activists in the struggle against the far-right ...
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Rock Against Racism was one of the most dynamic and innovative British social movements of the 1970s, bringing together music fans and left-wing activists in the struggle against the far-right National Front. This surprising alliance was forged by members of the Trotskyist International Socialists/Socialist Workers Party who had a long-standing interest in popular culture and championed punk as a form of working-class revolt. This attitude contrasted sharply with that of the significantly larger Communist Party of Great Britain, which tended to view mass culture as a development of American capitalism. Seeking to adopt the dominant social and cultural norms of the labour movement, communists were unable to relate to the subversive irreverence of punk. Rock Against Racism disappeared in the very early 1980s but acted as a template for future attempts to link music and politics.Less

Rocking Against Racism : Trotskyism, Communism, and Punk in Britain

Jeremy Tranmer

Published in print: 2013-04-25

Rock Against Racism was one of the most dynamic and innovative British social movements of the 1970s, bringing together music fans and left-wing activists in the struggle against the far-right National Front. This surprising alliance was forged by members of the Trotskyist International Socialists/Socialist Workers Party who had a long-standing interest in popular culture and championed punk as a form of working-class revolt. This attitude contrasted sharply with that of the significantly larger Communist Party of Great Britain, which tended to view mass culture as a development of American capitalism. Seeking to adopt the dominant social and cultural norms of the labour movement, communists were unable to relate to the subversive irreverence of punk. Rock Against Racism disappeared in the very early 1980s but acted as a template for future attempts to link music and politics.

Roughly 1.6 million Muslims reside in Britain today, of whom one million are British of South Asian origin, or “BrAsians.” Within a context of increased visibility and notoriety for BrAsian Muslims ...
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Roughly 1.6 million Muslims reside in Britain today, of whom one million are British of South Asian origin, or “BrAsians.” Within a context of increased visibility and notoriety for BrAsian Muslims in the United Kingdom, of moral panics over Muslim youth, of an upsurge in racist violence, and of antiracist mobilizations, the rap group Fun^Da^Mental emerged onto the music scene and released its first album in 1994. Fun^Da^Mental serves as an important pop culture correction to mainstream views about Muslim youth in the United Kingdom. Militant yet inclusive and open, rejectionist yet deeply concerned with education and dialogue, Muslim and black and British/punk, and global in their concern, they provide a very different, multiplexed, and more useful vision of what it might mean to be “Muslim” in today’s Britain.Less

Fun^Da^Mental’s “Jihad Rap”

Ted Swedenburg

Published in print: 2010-07-19

Roughly 1.6 million Muslims reside in Britain today, of whom one million are British of South Asian origin, or “BrAsians.” Within a context of increased visibility and notoriety for BrAsian Muslims in the United Kingdom, of moral panics over Muslim youth, of an upsurge in racist violence, and of antiracist mobilizations, the rap group Fun^Da^Mental emerged onto the music scene and released its first album in 1994. Fun^Da^Mental serves as an important pop culture correction to mainstream views about Muslim youth in the United Kingdom. Militant yet inclusive and open, rejectionist yet deeply concerned with education and dialogue, Muslim and black and British/punk, and global in their concern, they provide a very different, multiplexed, and more useful vision of what it might mean to be “Muslim” in today’s Britain.

This book examines a new breed of film that is indebted to the punk spirit of experimentation, do-it-yourself ethos, and an uneasy, often defiant relationship with the mainstream. An array of ...
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This book examines a new breed of film that is indebted to the punk spirit of experimentation, do-it-yourself ethos, and an uneasy, often defiant relationship with the mainstream. An array of scholars trace and map the contours of new punk cinema, from its roots in neorealism and the French New Wave, to its flowering in the work of Lars von Trier and the Dogma 95 movement. Subsequent chapters explore the potentially democratic and even anarchic forces of digital filmmaking; the influences of hypertext and other new media; the increased role of the viewer in arranging and manipulating the chronology of a film; and the role of new punk cinema in plotting a course beyond the postmodern. The book examines a range of films, including The Blair Witch Project, Time Code, Run Lola Run, Memento, The Celebration, Gummo and Requiem for a Dream.Less

New Punk Cinema

Published in print: 2005-05-19

This book examines a new breed of film that is indebted to the punk spirit of experimentation, do-it-yourself ethos, and an uneasy, often defiant relationship with the mainstream. An array of scholars trace and map the contours of new punk cinema, from its roots in neorealism and the French New Wave, to its flowering in the work of Lars von Trier and the Dogma 95 movement. Subsequent chapters explore the potentially democratic and even anarchic forces of digital filmmaking; the influences of hypertext and other new media; the increased role of the viewer in arranging and manipulating the chronology of a film; and the role of new punk cinema in plotting a course beyond the postmodern. The book examines a range of films, including The Blair Witch Project, Time Code, Run Lola Run, Memento, The Celebration, Gummo and Requiem for a Dream.

The purpose of this chapter is to provide a foundation through which international community music practice can be explored. The chapter presents a historic perspective of community music in the UK ...
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The purpose of this chapter is to provide a foundation through which international community music practice can be explored. The chapter presents a historic perspective of community music in the UK as it provides many of the key ideas that contemporary community music expressions are built upon. A form of activism located within the politics of the New Left, community music can be initially seen as a protest against the dominant culture’s articulation of music’s nature and purpose. Describing the cultural, economic, and political backgrounds that supported its growth and development the chapter uses five themes that reflect its significant milestones: musicians in residence, music animateur, music collectives and punk rock, the formation of a national development agency, and definitions.Less

The Growth of Community Music in the United Kingdom

Lee Higgins

Published in print: 2012-07-03

The purpose of this chapter is to provide a foundation through which international community music practice can be explored. The chapter presents a historic perspective of community music in the UK as it provides many of the key ideas that contemporary community music expressions are built upon. A form of activism located within the politics of the New Left, community music can be initially seen as a protest against the dominant culture’s articulation of music’s nature and purpose. Describing the cultural, economic, and political backgrounds that supported its growth and development the chapter uses five themes that reflect its significant milestones: musicians in residence, music animateur, music collectives and punk rock, the formation of a national development agency, and definitions.

Significantly, the people left unrecognised by the state, or for whom recognition by the state is derisory, live in the places devastated, in the 1980s, by the effects of Reaganomics: ...
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Significantly, the people left unrecognised by the state, or for whom recognition by the state is derisory, live in the places devastated, in the 1980s, by the effects of Reaganomics: deindustrialisation, market liberalisation, drug-trafficking, gang warfare and white flight. Only in the ‘hoods and the ghettos, it seems, does the struggle for the recognition of pure prestige that defines humanity as such persist: ‘Straight outta Compton, another crazy ass nigga / More punks I smoke, yo, my rep gets bigger’ (NWA, ‘Straight Outta Compton’, 1988). No doubt Fukuyama is being ironic, or giving an example of what passes for irony in neoconservative circles. No doubt the mere fact that such struggle only persists in street gangs among drug dealers is evidence of the debasement of the principle.Less

Niggativity

Scott Wilson

Published in print: 2015-07-01

Significantly, the people left unrecognised by the state, or for whom recognition by the state is derisory, live in the places devastated, in the 1980s, by the effects of Reaganomics: deindustrialisation, market liberalisation, drug-trafficking, gang warfare and white flight. Only in the ‘hoods and the ghettos, it seems, does the struggle for the recognition of pure prestige that defines humanity as such persist: ‘Straight outta Compton, another crazy ass nigga / More punks I smoke, yo, my rep gets bigger’ (NWA, ‘Straight Outta Compton’, 1988). No doubt Fukuyama is being ironic, or giving an example of what passes for irony in neoconservative circles. No doubt the mere fact that such struggle only persists in street gangs among drug dealers is evidence of the debasement of the principle.

This introductory chapter first sets out the purpose of the book, which is to trace a tendency in cinema that owes some debt to the aesthetics and politics of the punk movement in the United States ...
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This introductory chapter first sets out the purpose of the book, which is to trace a tendency in cinema that owes some debt to the aesthetics and politics of the punk movement in the United States and Britain in the 1970s. New punk cinema is animated by the same do-it-yourself approach that characterized the punk movement of the 1970s. Digital cameras and desktop editing have made it possible for a greater number of people than ever before to make films. The chapter also traces the development of punk rock, punk cinema and new punk cinema.Less

Introduction

Nicholas Rombes

Published in print: 2005-05-19

This introductory chapter first sets out the purpose of the book, which is to trace a tendency in cinema that owes some debt to the aesthetics and politics of the punk movement in the United States and Britain in the 1970s. New punk cinema is animated by the same do-it-yourself approach that characterized the punk movement of the 1970s. Digital cameras and desktop editing have made it possible for a greater number of people than ever before to make films. The chapter also traces the development of punk rock, punk cinema and new punk cinema.

This chapter argues that the significance and impact of Dogma 95 goes much further than questions of ‘national’ cinema. As a filmmaking agenda it is indeed pioneering and empowering for minor cinemas ...
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This chapter argues that the significance and impact of Dogma 95 goes much further than questions of ‘national’ cinema. As a filmmaking agenda it is indeed pioneering and empowering for minor cinemas and the cinemas of small nations, but this also makes it a prime example of a broader, transnational phenomenon of ‘new punk cinema’. Viewed in terms of a punk aesthetic, the apparent contradictions between Dogma's rule-making and rule-breaking begin to make sense, especially in the work of the movement's two main founders, Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg. Punk logic is what best encapsulates their ethos, if not the movement as a whole. The chapter presents case studies of their work following a general discussion of Dogma's punk idiom.Less

Dogma Brothers: Lars Von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg

Shohini Chaudhuri

Published in print: 2005-05-19

This chapter argues that the significance and impact of Dogma 95 goes much further than questions of ‘national’ cinema. As a filmmaking agenda it is indeed pioneering and empowering for minor cinemas and the cinemas of small nations, but this also makes it a prime example of a broader, transnational phenomenon of ‘new punk cinema’. Viewed in terms of a punk aesthetic, the apparent contradictions between Dogma's rule-making and rule-breaking begin to make sense, especially in the work of the movement's two main founders, Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg. Punk logic is what best encapsulates their ethos, if not the movement as a whole. The chapter presents case studies of their work following a general discussion of Dogma's punk idiom.

This chapter focuses on filmmaker Alex Cox. Cox is considered a punk film phenomenon, representing that rare breed of filmmaker whose love of underground, off-centre and unseen cinema has resulted in ...
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This chapter focuses on filmmaker Alex Cox. Cox is considered a punk film phenomenon, representing that rare breed of filmmaker whose love of underground, off-centre and unseen cinema has resulted in the creation of a series of independent works which continually fly in the face of cinematic orthodoxy. As a director, Cox bedazzled and bemused mainstream Hollywood with his offbeat/conspiracy theory/road movie-inspired début Repo Man. With its penchant for genre mixing as well as its pounding Los Angeles underground music, Repo Man is inextricably linked to the punk philosophy informing its creator. The chapter also presents an interview with Cox, where he discusses not only his films but also the influence of the punk movement on his cinema and his politics.Less

Repo Man: Reclaiming the Spirit of Punk With Alex Cox

Nicholas Rombes

Published in print: 2005-05-19

This chapter focuses on filmmaker Alex Cox. Cox is considered a punk film phenomenon, representing that rare breed of filmmaker whose love of underground, off-centre and unseen cinema has resulted in the creation of a series of independent works which continually fly in the face of cinematic orthodoxy. As a director, Cox bedazzled and bemused mainstream Hollywood with his offbeat/conspiracy theory/road movie-inspired début Repo Man. With its penchant for genre mixing as well as its pounding Los Angeles underground music, Repo Man is inextricably linked to the punk philosophy informing its creator. The chapter also presents an interview with Cox, where he discusses not only his films but also the influence of the punk movement on his cinema and his politics.

Rock and Roll became an important form of popular music, entering mainstream youth culture by white translators of black music such as Elvis Presley. Youth readily identified with the themes of Rock ...
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Rock and Roll became an important form of popular music, entering mainstream youth culture by white translators of black music such as Elvis Presley. Youth readily identified with the themes of Rock and Roll, such as rebelling against parents, having fun, and earlier themes of love and romance. Succeeding generations expressed the concerns of youth at the moment. Disenchantment with the war in Vietnam produced the Hippy movement. The economic downturn of the 1970s led to Punk as a voice for the disempowered that later emerged in the form of Grunge. Gender bending and challenges to conventional interpretations of sexuality were expressed in Glam. Soul and Reggae music represented the voices of non-white youth, with Rap emerging in the 1980s and becoming a global influence. Each of these expressions of youth concerns has had a lasting effect on each generation as well as on culture at large.Less

“Still Talking About My Generation!” : The Representation of Youth in Popular Music

Andy Bennett

Published in print: 2008-07-17

Rock and Roll became an important form of popular music, entering mainstream youth culture by white translators of black music such as Elvis Presley. Youth readily identified with the themes of Rock and Roll, such as rebelling against parents, having fun, and earlier themes of love and romance. Succeeding generations expressed the concerns of youth at the moment. Disenchantment with the war in Vietnam produced the Hippy movement. The economic downturn of the 1970s led to Punk as a voice for the disempowered that later emerged in the form of Grunge. Gender bending and challenges to conventional interpretations of sexuality were expressed in Glam. Soul and Reggae music represented the voices of non-white youth, with Rap emerging in the 1980s and becoming a global influence. Each of these expressions of youth concerns has had a lasting effect on each generation as well as on culture at large.

This chapter introduces the eleven buildings that were part of the 2002 deal to legalize the squats. Some have names and public reputations, like C-Squat, internationally famous as a home for punk ...
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This chapter introduces the eleven buildings that were part of the 2002 deal to legalize the squats. Some have names and public reputations, like C-Squat, internationally famous as a home for punk rock musicians and a resting spot for traveling young people, or Bullet Space, an artists’ squat with its own gallery. Others are known by their street addresses, and existed under the radar until the announcement of the legalization deal.Less

The Eleven Buildings

Amy Starecheski

Published in print: 2016-11-07

This chapter introduces the eleven buildings that were part of the 2002 deal to legalize the squats. Some have names and public reputations, like C-Squat, internationally famous as a home for punk rock musicians and a resting spot for traveling young people, or Bullet Space, an artists’ squat with its own gallery. Others are known by their street addresses, and existed under the radar until the announcement of the legalization deal.